Migrants, refugees, guest workers: it is time to speak the truth about these non-synonymous terms and the Hungarian government’s employment and migration policies.

Let’s look at the question of migrants first. This year marks nine years since the 2015 migration ‘shock’. Hungary has been saying the same thing from day one: uncontrolled, large-scale, illegal migration must be stopped by all means, because it is a serious security risk. According to Hungarian laws, asylum applications must be submitted in a third country, then assessed and only then may those whose applications have been approved allowed to enter.

At that time nine years ago, Hungary was called all sorts of names by the West because of this stance, and none were flattering. Meanwhile, the same West cheered for the migrants with ‘refugees welcome’ signs. Now, it seems to want to get rid of them; but Brussels is unperturbed.

The European Commission President admitted earlier this year that our country would not get the EU funding it deserves because it is unwilling to change its stance on illegal migration. The Commission and the European Parliament have been trying to put pressure on the Hungarian government for years regarding issues where Hungarian voters have made their views clear: we are not willing to let migrants in.

But Brussels will not accept that. It has been trying to introduce a migrant quota, sometimes voluntary and sometimes mandatory, since 2016 and has recently managed to push through a comprehensive migration pact, adopted under problematic circumstances. The decision was not unanimous, and it was done in haste, for obvious political reasons, to create a fait accompli before the EP elections in June.

According to the pact, the distribution of migrants will be managed from Brussels, with binding quotas for each Member State, which in principle can be redeemed with money: 20,000 EUR for each migrant. However, in a crisis situation, Member States may be obliged to take in migrants over and above the quota, which cannot be redeemed with money.

Only the blind cannot see that this could trigger serious consequences: it is in fact yet another incentive for those desperate to leave their home countries to make the journey to the EU.

According to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, there have never been as many illegal immigrants entering the EU since 2016 as last year.

In 2023, around 380,000 people tried to enter the EU illegally,

a trend that could continue this year due to international crises.

We believe that the Hungarian model is the right one, whereby asylum applications must be made outside the EU and refugees are only allowed to come after proper checks have been carried out.

This is so because the Hungarian government holds, in accordance with international law, that refugees are entitled to asylum in the first safe country they reach, not in any, distant country of their preference.

Genuine refugees are indeed welcome in Hungary, as proven by the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who have found temporary or permanent shelter in Hungary since the outbreak of the war.

All this may sound shocking to pro-migration bureaucrats, but what is really shocking is that in Germany, in the federal parliament of the world’s third largest economy, there is now a row over migrants’ allowances for alcohol and tobacco. Yes, you read it right: the German government wants to give illegal immigrants migrant bank cards so that their hefty benefits are not sent home to their families. That in itself is in somewhat of a contradiction with the alleged humane and liberal position the German government endorses. However, the Christian Democrats would restrict migrants’ benefits even further by not allowing them to be spent on alcohol and tobacco. The Green Party does not support the initiative, as they believe that migrants have the right to smoke and drink as they please with German taxpayer money. Fortunately, in Hungary, we have no say in this matter, and we will do everything we can to not have to debate such a thing in the Hungarian parliament.

Thirdly, let us consider the sensitive issue of guest workers. Some on the Left have been pointing fingers at the Hungarian government arguing that it allows in a huge number of foreign workers, while ‘hypocritically’ advocating against migration.

The context here is that Hungary has achieved significant economic growth and development under the conservative governments, resulting in the creation of numerous new jobs. Consequently, the country has become a popular destination for foreign companies and foreign workers. At the same time, it is increasingly challenging to find Hungarian workers for domestic jobs. The allegedly liberal and socially sensitive Left’s response to this issue has been whipping up sentiments against foreigners, which is unacceptable. (This was only reinforced by the United States Embassy’s questionable, outsourced Facebook campaign which explicitly incited against foreign workers arriving from the territory of the former Soviet Union.)

Hungary does allow guest workers in, but the emphasis is on the qualifier ‘guest’:

they are not meant to stay here once their job is done. In fact, the new law, proposed by the Orbán government and adopted by parliament, regulating the working rights of foreigners in the country is significantly stricter than the European standard, as we have previously discussed on Hungarian Conservative.

So, what about the Orbán government’s recipe for solving the existing labour shortage? Well, first of all, by helping people to have the desired number of children through various incentives, and thus tackling the demographic crisis. This is the long-term solution. In the medium term, as opposed to relying on imported labour, the government aims to further increase the activity rate of the adult population, already above the EU average, to 85 per cent the longer term. To achieve this, the government plans to mobilize the domestic labour market reserve, assist jobseekers in finding employment, thus activating the inactive working-age population. This effort will primarily focus on individuals under 25 and over 55, totalling approximately 300,000 people. By 2030, over 460 billion HUF will be allocated to increasing employment, training workers, and improving working conditions. The Youth Guarantee Plus programme, which provides nearly 200 billion HUF, will offer targeted support to individuals under 30 years old to enter the labour market through training, wage subsidies, and mobility grants. As some of the working-age inactive population would like to work, but are constrained by their living situation or health, require complex support from the government. Particular attention will be therefore paid to people in need and people with disabilities.

To sum up, the conservative Hungarian government does what it has always said it would do ever since 2010: it puts Hungary and Hungarians first.